LDAP with KMail at Newcastle University

Intended audience: KMail users at Newcastle University.

The details you need to fill in are as follows:

Username: (empty)
Domain: (empty)
Server: campusdc03.campus.ncl.ac.uk
Password: (you know this)
Security: SSL
Authentication: Simple
DN: DC=campus,DC=ncl,DC=ac,DC=uk

Construct the Bind DN as follows:
Go to https://directory.ncl.ac.uk/tech-info.php and login. Pay attention to the OUs section of the table. Your Bind DN is:

CN=(your username),OU=(the first part of the OUs section),OU=(the second part of the OUs section),(keep going with OU=… until you get to the last one),OU=(the last part of the OUs section),DN=campus,DN=ncl,DN=ac,DN=uk

For example, Jane Test has the username “njt123” and the OUs part of the table says “J first names, T surnames, Test Users, Campus Users” for her. Her Bind DN would be:

CN=njt123,OU=J first names,OU=T surnames,OU=Test Users,OU=Campus Users,DN=campus,DN=ncl,DN=ac,DN=uk

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Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on Lenovo Thinkpad T440p

Intended audience: Thinkpad owners who are considering Ubuntu 16.04.

We couldn’t get Ubuntu to install successfully in UEFI mode at all, never mind with Secure Boot. The installation would finish, we would reboot, and the computer wouldn’t find an OS. The only way around was to disable UEFI:

  • Go into the BIOS at boot time.
  • Startup → UEFI/legacy boot and choose legacy only.

Installing Ubuntu 16.04 on Dell XPS 9350

Intended audience: XPS owners who are considering Ubuntu 16.04.

BIOS/UEFI settings

Press F2 at POST.

  • Go into Settings → System configuration → SATA Operation and choose Disabled. This is required for the OS to even see the SSD.
  • I was able to set up Ubuntu 16.04 with Secure Boot enabled.

Quirks

  • For the USB-C/Thunderbolt network adaptor to work, it must be plugged in before boot and left plugged in. If you plug it in after boot, or unplug it and replug it after boot, the adaptor is not detected and nothing is shown in journalctl. The only workaround known to me is to reboot, as nothing in the BIOS seemed to affect this behaviour.
  • The SSD is listed as nvme0n1 and the partitions as nvme0n1p1 etc. nvme0 appears to be what the Linux kernel calls the disk controller.